Short 494
Digital Commons, Stinkbugs, Nationalism, and More
Wendell Berry writes in defense of the University Press of Kentucky: "If it should happen, this destruction would amount to an act of censorship, for the knowledge made available by…
Wendell Berry Interview, Life after Liberalism, and More
“The Agrarian Life with Wendell Berry.” Bryan Wood and Mike Kline from Back to the Roots Podcast conduct a long interview with Wendell Berry. It’s worth setting aside the time…
Good News and Bad News
As always, the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. On the good side of the ledger, the facts seem incontrovertible: more and more people riding bikes when they decide…
Loneliness, Rural College Students, and More
It's been a busy first week on the remodeled porch, and we have an excellent lineup of new essays coming next week. For now, though, here are some of the…
Technological Failures, New Localism, and More
Each week, I’ll try to post links to recent essays and stories that might interest Porchers. If you have additional essays to recommend, please link to them in the comments.…
New Book on Wendell Berry and Higher Ed
Front Porchers Jeff Bilbro and Jack Baker---the two JBs of Spring Arbor University---have just brought out Wendell Berry and Higher Education: Cultivating Virtues of Place, a long-awaited book that got…
A Rebirth of Midwestern Regionalism
My review of an important new book by the midwestern historian, Jon K. Lauck, appears in the new issue of National Review. I'll have more to say on western and southern…
Sitting on the Porch
“I cannot separate it [watching the world go by] from the porch where it occurs. The action and the space are indivisible. The action is supported by this kind of…
Living These Relationships, Every Day
"Therefore, it is clear that the care of the household concerns human beings more than material property..." Aristotle, Politics "Here Aristotle infers that the chief aim of [parents] concerns these…
VoegelinView: Call for Papers
VoegelinView (https://voegelinview.com/) is an interdisciplinary and international website dedicated to the thought of Eric Voegelin as well as to political philosophy as public commentary that includes all aspects of culture,…
Making a Castle, This Time of Year
"At this time of the year--the Christmas and New Year time--I am seldom out of my Castle. For the associations of the season seem to hold me there, and the…
So Long, Leonard Cohen
One of the pleasures of living near the Canadian border is Canuck radio, which due to local content regulations (the good protectionism) plays a steady diet (varying greatly in nutritional…
This is Our Story
“For the man that is truly good and wise, we think, bears all the chances of life becomingly and always makes the best of circumstances...as a good shoemaker makes the…
Back There Where the Past Was
From The American Conservative, memories of the Crooked Lake Review gang.
Dy-No-Mite!
Minnesota's second literary Nobelist is the subject of The Political World of Bob Dylan: Freedom and Justice, Power and Sin, a perceptive book by our porchite colleague Jeff Taylor. Herewith…
At Least His Priorities Are in the Right Place
From The Telegraph: Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, attended a meeting of his local allotment association on Sunday despite the resignation of most of his shadow cabinet. With the mounting…
A Space for Children in the Home
“If children do not have space to release a tremendous amount of energy when they need to, they will drive themselves and everybody else in the family up the wall.”…
FPR Annual Conference: October 8 at The University of Notre Dame
Join us for our 6th annual conference. This year we'll be at The University of Notre Dame. The theme of our conference: Populism, Power, and Place. Confirmed speakers include Bill…
Benedict Option in Baltimore
The Academy of Philosophy and Letters 2016 Conference Contact me if you need more information. polet@hope.edu
Academy of Philosophy and Letters Conference
The Academy of Philosophy and Letters will be holding its annual conference at the BWI in Baltimore on May 27-29. The Topic this year is "The Benedict Option: The Problems…
The Craft of Education
“Then education is the craft concerned with doing this very thing, this turning around, and with how the soul can most easily and effectively be made to do it.” Plato,…
Learning to Wait
"Through delayed fulfillment, good desires grow stronger." Gregory the Great Almost fifty years ago the famous marshmallow experiment suggested the importance of being able to wait. There are many troubling…
My Wife Has What I Need
“Men and women, however, live together not only to procreate children but also to have whatever is needed for life. Indeed, from the beginning, family duties are distinct; some are…